Al-Jazeera Advertises 100 Job Listings In New York And DC

Al-Jazeera has advertised more than 100 job vacancies in New York
and Washington, including a team of investigative journalists, in
preparation for launching its US news channel.

The hiring spree for the New York-based channel, likely to be
called al-Jazeera America, follows the Middle Eastern
broadcaster's $500m (£300m) deal to buy Al Gore's cable network
Current
TV earlier this month.

The number and scope of the vacancies gives an insight into the
scale of al-Jazeera's US plans. Among other jobs, the broadcaster
is hiring 54 producers, 20 editors, and one New York-based
presenter.

Jobs up for grabs include news, sport, economic, and science and
technology correspondents, and various producer and executive
producer roles for news, sport and business.

Al-Jazeera has remained coy about its plans for the venture, but
reports suggest it plans to launch a distinctively US channel
with 60% of the content produced in America and the remainder
from its existing English-language offshoot, al-Jazeera English.

The launch of the channel represents al-Jazeera's most
significant attempt yet to crack America, the most lucrative and
competitive media market in the world.

The broadcaster, which is owned by the emir of Qatar, has
previously struggled to strike carriage deals with cable and
satellite TV distributors due to latent suspicions about its
ownership and politics.

Al-Jazeera said earlier this month that its US launch would allow
it to reach the homes of 60 million Americans – the distribution
enjoyed by Current TV before the takeover – and would "make a
positive contribution to the news and information available in
and about the United States".

However, US cable giant Time
Warner threatened to thrown a spanner in the works when it
announced, immediately following news of the takeover, that it
would drop Current TV from its channel lineup. It is unclear if
this means it will not carry al-Jazeera America, which will take
over Current TV's channel slot.

Schechter added: "It's not clear if all the negativity towards
the channel is driven by fear that it might succeed or just plain
American arrogance fed by a cocky sense of superiority towards
foreigners, even as many domestic TV news channels now report
serious ratings slides.

"The volume of derision has not diminished even if the assertion
that al-Jazeera is pro-terrorist because it has covered
terrorists goes unchallenged, and even as cable system operator
Time Warner's decision not to offer the new channel – even before
it sees what it is – has not been contested by regulators, or
even, to my knowledge, human rights and freedom of expression
groups."

A footnote to the piece clarified that Schechter's opinions do
not necessarily reflect al-Jazeera's editorial policy.

Al-Jazeera had not responded to a request for comment at the time
of publication.

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